rom civil discord seemed a
favorable opportunity for urging the most extreme pretensions.

To give a show of fairness and moderation the English ambassadors at
Paris lessened their demands more than once, and appeared willing for
some time to renew negotiations after their terms had been rejected. But
in the end they still insisted on a claim which in point of equity was
altogether preposterous, and rejected a compromise which would have put
Henry in possession of the whole of Guienne and given him the hand of
the French King's daughter Catharine with a marriage portion of eight
hundred thousand crowns. Meanwhile Henry was making active preparations
for war, and at the same time carried on secret negotiations with the
Duke of Burgundy, trusting to have him for an ally in the invasion of
France.

At length, in the summer of 1415, the King had collected an army and was
ready to embark at Southampton. But on the eve of his departure a
conspiracy was discovered, the object of which was to dethrone the King
and set aside the house of Lancaster. The conspirators were Richard,
Earl of Cambridge, Henry, Lord Scrope of Masham, and a knight of
Northumberland named Sir Thomas Grey. The Earl of Cambridge was the
King's cousin-german, and had been recently raised to that dignity by
Henry himself. Lord Scrope was, to all appearance, the King's most
intimate friend and counsellor. The design seems to have been formed
upon the model of similar projects in the preceding reign. Richard II
was to be proclaimed once more, as if he had been still alive; but the
real intention was to procure the crown for Edmund Mortimer, Earl of
March, the true heir of Richard, whom Henry IV had set aside.

At the same time the Earl of March himself seems hardly to have
countenanced the attempt; but the Earl of Cambridge, who had married his
sister, wished, doubtless, to secure the succession for his son Richard,
as the Earl of March had no children. Evidently it was the impression
of some persons that the house of Lancaster was not even yet firmly
seated upon the throne. Perhaps it was not even yet apparent that the
young man who had so recently been a gamesome reveller was capable of
ruling with a firm hand a king.

But all doubt on this point was soon terminated. The commissioners were
tried by a commission hastily issued, and were summarily condemned and
put to death. The Earl of March, it is said, revealed the plot to the
King, sat as one of the ju